During the early 17th century, pamphlets proclaiming the existence of a mysterious Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross caused a sensation in Europe. Yet, few, if any, were actually accepted into the Brotherhood (if it existed as such), despite a number of public petitions.

It is difficult for us to imagine why this was such a big deal. Today, we are flooded with choices — choices of movies, bars, restaurants, and shops, etc. Likewise, spiritual “traditions,” groups, Orders, sects, and so on, have sprung up in abundance. And if there’s nothing that really suits us, we can just pick from a few traditions, mix them together, and make our own tradition. Continue reading “Planting Too Many Seeds”→

“Pythagoras and his followers wrote the precepts of their doctrines in cubical arrangement,” we read in Vitruvius’ De Architectura (Book V, Preface), “the cube containing two hundred and sixteen verses, of which they thought that not more than three should be allotted to any one precept.”

Notably, 216 is the result of 6 raised to the third power. Ever since the ancient Chaldeans, the number 6 represented the act of creation, so it was considered to be the perfect number. Again, among the Platonic Solids described in Timaeus is the Cube, a congruent and regular six-square-face polygon, is representative of “Earth” though with a deeper significance. Continue reading “For it is a Human Number”→

In the latest Phalanx podcast we speak with author and TV presenter Richard Rudgley on his latest book, The Return of Odin: The Modern Renaissance of Pagan Imagination (Inner Traditions 2018 — note: this is a revised edition of his earlier work Pagan Resurrection: A Force for Evil or the Future of Western Spirituality?).